Conveyer for enameling ovens



Patented May 19, 1925.

JOHN R. WALD, OF HUNTINGDO'N, PENNSYLVANIA.

CONVEYER FOR ENAMELING OVENS.

Application filed September 24, 1924. Serial No. 739,624.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN R. WALD, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Huntingdon, in the county of Huntmgdon and State of Pppnsylvania, have invented a new andiiseful Improvement in Conveyors for Enameling Ovens; and I do hereby declare the following to be full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to apparatus for handling material to be treated in a kiln or drying chamber, and more particularly to a conveyer for handling the articles being treated.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide means whereby articles such as license plates may be given a plurality of passes'within a drying chamber.

Another object 'ofiny invention is to pro vide a form of mechanism for transferring articles being treated from one conveyer flight to an adjacent flight.

Still another object of my invention is to simplify and improve generally the structure and operation of devices of the character referred to. l

One form which my invention may take is shown in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, partially diagrammatic, showing a device embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a view, on an enlar ed scale, of a portion of the apparatus of ig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a plan Ziew of a portion of the apparatus of The apparatus is shown as mounted within a chamber 4 which has a hood 5 which shields the charging'o ening, and a discharge opening 6-in the ottom wall 7 of the chamber. The hood 5 is for the purpose of conserving heat. To still further conserve the heat I provide a bafile wall 7. Ord1 narily heat is supplied to the chamber 4 through the space between the wall 7 and a perforated screen 8 that effects a uniform distribution of the heat.

Within the chamber 4 are mounted sprockets 9 on suitable shafts (not shown). One of the sprockets of each group is driven from any suitable source of power.

A couveyer chain 11 passes around a sprocket 10 and the upper sprockets 9 and is driven in the direction indicated by the arrows. Additional conveyers 12, 12, 12", and 13 are provided, also driven in the dithrough the bottom -tervals as hereinafter described. Fingers 20 are secured to the shafts 16 and serve as trays or supports for license plates 21, as indicated in Fig. 2. The fingers 20 and the license plates carried thereby, being disposed to one side of the axis of the shaft 16, will tend to maintain the roller 18 in engagement with the horizontal tracks 19.

Each shaft 16 and its fingers 20 are designed to carry one or more license plates, according to the width of oven and the transverse spacing of the chains. In order to facilitate the positioning of the plates on the fingers,.stop members 22 are provided on the fingers. Side washers 23 are provided to prevent chain 11 fromnliflnning off the track 19 and to hold the license. plates on the trays or fingers in proper position longitudinally of the shaft 16. p In the operation of the device, plates which have received a coat :of paint or enamel are placed in the drying oven 4 and conveyed in a tortuous path therein while drying. In order to rovide sufficient ca pacity in the oven an to ously moving plates to remain in the oven a sufficient length of time, a number of dumping stations indicated at A, B, O, D, etc, are rovided. E is a dum ing station at whic the plates are fina ly discharged opening 6 as will be hereinafter described.

The plates are placed upon the upwardly moving fingers 20 of the conveyor 11. The fingers are held in horizontal position by means of'a guide rail 25 with which the rollers 18 engage. When the rollers 18 reach the u per horizontal path of travel they move a ong the-track 19 until they arrive at the dumping station A. At this point the track "19 is provded with a raised portion 19 to slightly elevate the outer ends of the fingers 20 and thereby retard the dumping movement which takes place when permit continu the rollers 18 enter the depresed portion 19 of the track, to permit tilting of the fingers 20. The rollers 18 when passing from the upper horizontal flight to the lower horizontal flight are guided by a rail 27 and thereafter pass over a raised track section 199 to elevate the rear ends of the fingers slightly. The sets of fingers are so spaced that when a. plate 21 is being dumped as indicated in Fig. 2, a preceding set of fingers is in raised positionto receive the plate being discharged. It will be observed that only the corners of the plates engage the fingers during the transfer movement. This avoids unnecessary wiping and smearing of the coating material such as would otherwise occur if the plate, during transfer, occupied a flat position upon the fingers.

An inspection of Fig. 2 will show that the arrangement just described permits the upper and lower flights of the conveyer chains to be placed a distance apart less than the width of the plates being transferred In'handling ordinary automobile license plates I find that it is possible to have the chains spaced as closely as five inches or less. Many types of ovens require a ten inch space between superposed flights of conveyors. Not only does close spacing prevent sliding movement of the plate when being transferred, but practically double the usual number of conveyer flights may be placed in an oven of a given size, and the capacity thereof increased to that extent.

After the operation just described, the plate is carried to the left along the lower horizontal flight of the conveyer 12 to station B, where the dumping operation at station A is repeated. The conveyer 12 is driven in timed relation to the chain 11 so that a set of fingers 20 will be in position to receive a plate whenever one is dumped from the conveyer thereabove at station B. Transfers. of plates from one flight of a conveyer to another flight thereof or from one conveyer to an adjacent conveyer are also effected at stations 0 and D.

It will be understood that in order to permit the fingers 20 forming the trays to assume the relative positions shown at the dumping station in Fig. 2, the fingers of coacting trays are so spaced upon the shaft 16 that the fingers of one tray will not obstruct the movement of the fingers of the other tray.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I provide a simple and effective means for transferring articles from one conveyer flight to another withoutturning the article over and without the necessity of providing relatively complicated non-reversing trays or carriers. Further the plates are transferred with a minimum of force and with little tendency to niar the coating thereof.

When the plates have finally been transheld in horizontal position while descending through the discharge opening 6 by an inclined track section 29. Beneath the dump ing station E I provide a conveyer which may be of the type employed for removing the plates through the drying ovens or may be in any other desired form. WVhen plates have been de osited upon the belts 14 they are carried tiirough the opening 30 in the end wall 31 of the furnace 4 and may be either removed manually or automatically stacked.

It will be apparent that my apparatus may be advantageously used in connection with the handling of fragile articles generally and may be employed otherwise than in ovens and the like.

Various changes in detail and general arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. Conveyer apparatus comprising a continuous belt having superposed horizontal flights, trays pivotally connected to said belt, means for normally maintaining saidtrays in horizontal position, means for tilting a tray of the upper flight downwardly to discharge the contents thereof, and means for tilting a tray on the lower flight upwardly from the plane of said flight, to receive said contents.

2. Conveyer apparatus comprising trays movable in superposed (paths, means for normally maintaining sai trays in horizontal position, means for tilting a tray of an upper path downwardly to discharge the contents thereof, and means for tilting a tray on a lower path upwardly from horizontal position, to receive said contents.

3. Conveyer apparatus comprisin ,trays movable in superposed cpaths, means or normally maintaining sai trays in horizontal position, means for tilting a tray of an upper path downwardly todischarge the contents thereof, and means for tiltin a tray on a lower path upwardly from t e horizontal plane of said path, to receive said contents, the angularity of the tilted tray on the lower flight with respect to the horizontal being less than the angularity of the upper tilted tray.

4. Conveyer apparatus comprising a continuous belt having superposed horizontal flights, trays pivotally connected at one edge to said belt, alever arm connected to each tray, :1 guide for engaging said arm at a point eccentric to said pivotal connection,

' a depression in said guide to permit tilting elevation in said guide beneath the said depressed portion, for elevating said lever arms as they pass thereby, edges of trays when passing beneath tilted trays.

5. Conveyer apparatus comprising an endless belt having superposed horizontal flights, tra s pivotally supported by said at rail for engaging said trays to normally maintain them in horizontal position, thesaid railadjacent to one end of the upper belt flight being deflected to cause tilting of the trays at that point, and the portion of the rail beneath said deflected portion bein deflected to tilt trays upwardly to incline position when passing beneath trays tilted on the upper flight.

6. Conveyer apparatus comprising a plurality of endless belts disposed in su erposed relation, trays pivotally supporte by said belts, means for tilting the trays of an upper beltdownwardly at predetermined points, and means for tilting trays disposed therebeneath upwardly to inclined position at said points to receive articles discharged I 4 from the first-named trays.

7. Conveyerapparatus comprising a plurality of continuous beltsmounted in superposed relation and each having superposed flights, trays carried by said belts, means adjacent to the outer end of the uppermost flight for tilting the trays downwardly, means onthe lower flight at a point therebeneath for tilting the trays upwardly to inclined" position to receive material discharged cent to the opposite ends of sald lower flight for tilting the trays to discharge material therefrom, and means on the conveyer belt therebeneath for tilting trays carried therebyto receive material from the last-named discharge point.

to raise the free from the upper trays, means adja- 8. Conveyer apparatus rality of endless belts posed relation, trays comprising a pludisposed in superpivota ly connected at their inner edges to said belts, the length of the trays from their inner to their outer edges bein greater than the distance between the ielts, and means for tilting the outer edges of trays of adjacent flights toward each other in overla ping relation, to effect transfer of articles $10111 an upper to a lower tray.

9. Conveyer apparatus comprising'a plurality of endless belts dis osed in superposed relation, trayspivota ly connected at their inner edges to said belts, the length of the trays from their inner to their outer edges bein greater than the distance between the lts, and means for tilting the outer edges of trays of adjacent flights toward each other, to effect transfer of articles from an upper to a lower tray.

10. Gonveyer apparatus comprising trays movable in superposed paths, means for normally maintaining said trays in horizontal position, means for tilting a tray of an upper path downwardly to discharge thecontents thereof, and means for tilting a tray on a lower path u wardl to receive said contents, the dis ance etween the conveyer flights being less than the length of the trays.

' 11. Conveyer, apparatus comprising trays for supporting articles, means for moving said trays through super osed paths, means for transferring the articles fronra tray in one path toa tray in an adjacent path, and means .for deflecting one of said last named trays from its path in a direction toward the other tray, when efl'ecting said transfer.

JOHN R. WALD. 

